New Pasta Ideas Taking Shape : Cooks Use Their Noodle to Pick the Right Product

You name it, and you'll be able to find fresh and dry pasta in any one of dozens of shapes, sizes and even colors these days. Packaged dry pasta is available in a limited number of fanciful shapes in any supermarket. However, most Mediterranean food stores carry greater varieties of shapes of dry pasta, most of it in loose form sold by the pound.

Some fresh pasta outlets sell as many as 15 different shapes of fresh pasta, and supermarkets also provide several varieties on their deli shelves. The pasta sold in stores specializing in pasta is generally made daily but have a shelf life of up to 10 days under good refrigeration conditions. Ideally, for best results pasta should be purchased the day you plan to use it.

Supermarket-fresh pastas have a shelf life of up to two months, due to pasteurization and storage in a nitrogen-controlled atmosphere packaging, according to Al Resnick, president of the Coronet Brokerage Co. in Los Angeles, which handles Santino fresh pasta, one of the brands distributed to supermarkets. Pasteurized pasta can also be frozen. However, the recommendation to keep all fresh pasta refrigerated unless frozen, is also a warning that pasta is highly perishable because of its raw egg content and should be used within a day or two of purchase, despite the shelf life advisement. Furthermore, the fresher the pasta, the better the taste and nutritional quality of the product.

Cooking Instruction

Follow cooking directions on the package when cooking pasta, remembering that pasta tends to cook further after it is removed from the cooking water. Fresh pasta will cook within one to three minutes, depending on the brand and shapes used. Atmosphere-controlled fresh pasta tends to be slightly more al dente than freshly turned out unpasteurized pastas.

Dry pasta cooks from eight to 15 minutes, depending on the shape and size used. Dry pastas made with 100% durum wheat will cook more al dente than pasta made with other or partial durum wheat flours. The longer the cooking the more tender and pasty the product will become.

Once cooked, pasta should be handled quickly and served at once. For extra al dente pasta, tasting a few strands short of the prescribed cooking time will tell you if it is ready to eat. The pasta will be chewy to the bite, and perhaps even slightly raw in the center.

Thorough Draining Necessary

Rinsing is unnecessary, although some cooks prefer to rinse starch out of pasta. The tendency, however, will be for the pasta to become slightly watery unless thoroughly drained.

Here is a glossary of pasta shapes--with translations of the Italian names--taken in part from a National Pasta Assn. bulletin. Most of these varieties can be found in either dry or fresh form in local markets.

Agnolotti-- Round ravioli filled with meat or other filling shaped like turnovers.

Anelli (rings)--Small ring-shaped pasta often used in soups and salads.